


Facing The Truth

by Leni



Series: Enter The Fairy [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Background Papafire, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8536396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: Baelfire has been rescued from Neverland and brought home.
But that's only the start.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: absorbed

Rumpelstiltskin wasn't drawn to the spinning wheel as often as he had been while under the Dark Curse.

Most of the hours he would have devoted to it, now were spent in the land of dreams. For all he would have scoffed once at the waste of time, now he couldn't picture a better way to end the day than snug up with Belle in their bed, with the reassurance that she would be there in the morning.

Hours of the day were spent over account books, making sure that the dozens of skeins of gold they had taken from the Dark Castle became proper investments that would not only keep them in comfort in the present, but also secure their future.

Bae’s future.

If nothing else, Rumpelstiltskin wanted to make good of his old promise, and give his son everything he deserved. Never mind that said son spent his days glaring at him, and the evenings ignoring him.

This invisible wall that Baelfire had built between them had brought Rumpelstiltskin back to the old stool, a basket of wool at his feet and the comfortable routine of his original trade keeping his darker thoughts at bay. His hands needed little direction, to keep at the labor of centuries. The hum of the wooden wheel was a familiar chant, driving away his doubts and fears.

Absorbed in his task, Rumpelstiltskin could pretend for a moment that bringing Baelfire back home had been the end of his trials.

But he wasn't alone with his thoughts anymore.

"Rumple," Belle said softly, standing next to him, her hand resting on his shoulder. "We need to talk."

The wheel slowed. Rumpelstiltskin recognized that tone, across so many decades. He had been married before, after all.

But he wasn't the lame spinner who had fretted that his wife would tire of him and leave. He didn't need to jump as soon as she spoke. "Hmmm," he answered after a few moments of silence, pretending he didn't feel her gaze at the back of his head. "I'm busy right now, sweetheart. Maybe later?"

The grip at his shoulder traveled down his arm, to his wrist. Hovered there even if Belle didn't actually press him to stop spinning. "Now."

It wasn't a suggestion.

But Belle wouldn't yell at him to pay attention, nor would she start a litany of complaints until he caved if only to make her stop.

Belle would stand there and wait.

"Of course," he said, resigned, halting the wheel and laying down the wool back into its basket. He risked a glance at Belle, breathing more easily when she recognized her expression as one of concern rather than anger.

Concerns, he still had the power to allay.

Taking him by the hand, Belle guided him to the couch closest to them, motioning him to sit first before she took her place at his side, so close that they touched from hip to shoulders.

Rumpelstiltskin blinked in surprise when she started by laying her head on his shoulder. "Is it that bad?" he half joked.

She kept hold if his hand as if he'd suddenly recover his powers and whisk himself away.

As ever, she wasn't wrong. If he had even a spark of magic, he would have gladly vanished after her next words.

"Bae says that he knows about his mother."

Denied a escape, Rumpelstiltskin froze.

Belle took a deep breath. "Is it true?"

"How...?"

"Rumple."

He let out a dark chuckle. Of course his past sins came back to haunt him. In the Underworld, Milah must be smirking at his predicament.

He thought of lying. Then was ashamed for it.

"Yes," he whispered, curling his free hand, suddenly remembering the weight of a beating heart in it, and how easy it had been to squeeze it into ashes with a thought. He hadn’t thought of that day in years, decades even. Easier to think of Milah as the wife she had been under his roof, to remember all the small slights for which he should have written her off long before he reached a hand into her chest.

Now he wished to all the gods he had just let her sail away with her lover. What had it been, the sting of another failure when he held so many regrets already?

Even then he had known that the Dark One stood high above petty pirates and the women that chose them over a home and a family. If he thought back on that day, he couldn’t remember caring for anything except the bean in their possession.

He wanted to believe that he would have left them alone, if they hadn’t tried to deny him.

And then Milah had made the mistake of taunting the Dark One as she would have a weak husband. Milah, who should have understood the lengths a parent would go to, to protect their child. Milah, who had once pressed him into killing a stranger in order to save Baelfire.

Milah, who hadn’t asked about their son’s fate.

He had hated her. He remembered that much. It had been so easy to hate anything that stood between him and any chance to recover his son, and then Milah hadn’t seemed to care about Baelfire...

And he had not explained, had he?

"I can't even tell if she deserved it," he said now, a confession three centuries in the making.

To his surprise, Belle didn't move away.

"Belle. Now I’d never--- I wouldn't---"

"Shh. I know."

Her hand tightened around his for a moment, and though sheer shock wouldn't allow him to decipher her tone, all that mattered was that it wasn't fear. Rumpelstiltskin wasn't sure how he would deal if she became afraid of him now, when she had always faced him bravely while he'd been drowning in darkness.

"We- we can talk about this later, all right?" she told him, still not lifting her head, and thus with her face averted from view. But her voice was steady, and Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes in relief. "But for now... Now you need to talk with your son, Rumpelstiltskin."

"Yes, of course," he said automatically, then realized what she'd asked. He tried to think of the words he'd need to say, but shook his head at a loss. "What do I tell him?"

Belle didn't say anything for a long moment.

"I think," she started hesitatingly, "that Bae knows the worst already. But maybe he needs to hear it from you too."

"How can I explain---?"

Her head gave a firm shake before she raised it to look him in the eye. "You don't." She took his face between her hands, pulling him in until their foreheads touched. Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes, his own hands grasping for her, digging into her waist. "You tell him the truth, Rumple. You don't hide anything." And because she knew him well, she added, "The only thing that will push your son further away is if you try to lie to him."

Rumpelstiltskin knew that Belle was right. Baelfire was already slipping away, and now that he wasn't blinded by the curse, he could see how his own actions would push him. If his boy already knew about Milah.... "He'll never forgive me."

Not even his optimistic wife could reassure him.

"If it comes to that," Belle said, "we will work it out. But don't cheat him off an apology just because you're afraid he won't take it."

Rumpelstiltskin gulped at that. Then gave a fretful nod. "Do I have to do it now?" he asked anyway, licking his lips nervously.

Maybe if he waited until he knew what to say...

Belle's hands came down hard onto his shoulders. Gave him a push. "Yes, Rumple," she told him, a stern look in her eyes. "You've already lost too much time already."

Once again, Belle was right.

With dread clutching his heart, Rumpelstiltskin got to his feet. Looked over at the stairs that led to the bedrooms upstairs. He had hoped that it was the time apart that had kept Baelfire wary of him. The nightmare memories of his time as the Dark One's child. He had hoped that once Bae realized he was truly rid of the curse, they could be father and son again, as they had been so long ago.

Those hopes now lay crashed around him - broken by his own hand so long ago.

"What if I fail?" he whispered brokenly. "What if I lose him?"

Belle's voice was a pillar of strength behind him, supporting him even as it pushed him onward. "What if you don't?"

 

The End  
11/11/16


End file.
